cool spring night. another failure
to attain set goals.
not grasping, not avoiding, who
prepares for sleep?

i rarely go for night walks anymore
and when i do i hurry home
and bolt the door. tonight, i heard a rustle-
fresh vegetables from our neighbor

the doctor sees the lesion on my calf
describes it with an acronym
writes a prescription. i ask for details. he answers
with credentials. i’m not comforted.

spring deluge, after a summery week. plum blossom
time has passed its peak. i greet
old friends and meet new ones. the heart still beats
beneath this new striped shirt.

npm napowrimo

out on a walk, pulling his wheeled elephant,
he spotted Abdul enjoying a smoke,
and slowed down, like he does for new-shaped dogs,
and gripped my finger tighter.

npm napowrimo

night
poem
write
bed

talk radio in
a plastic bag
keeps raccoons away
miss them now

npm napowrimo

after nap, walking
“dadú, hold hand”
crow caws, boy answers
head turned left

npm napowrimo

the unwashed dishes, two or three days high
the garden, neglected, knee-high weeds
not two, he already knows a hundred songs
what kind of life awaits him?

npm napowrimo

he pays the bills. he sings the boy to sleep.
he hears the dishes being washed.
he knows it’s spring. he settles. he remembers
feeling satisfied.

npm napowrimo